The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1887-03-04

| 1nlS was what molly naQ always
wanted; she had gone to Newfield high
school till she had learned all that was
to be taught there, and she did very
earnestly wish for q little more school,
ing, for she meant to be teacher. Mr..
Bates was not rich man. He had
good farm, and could give his family
all the food and clothing needful for
them, but he never had any money
to spare. And Mrs. Bates had told
Molly not to ask her father to. send her
away to school, because he could not
afford it.
Mrs. Parsons had learned all about
Molly's wish from Frank, who had no
scruple about asking his cousin ques-
tions; and as Mr.. Bates had refused to
consider Frank as any thing but well
come visitor all that long summer, it
relieved his mother from a great sense
of obligation to offer Molly winters
schooling as well as her board; for
Mrs. Parsons knew that Mr.. Bates was
not really able to be as generous as his
nature made him.
Molly was delighted, and her nimble
fingers at once began on the needful
sewing. The Newfeld dressmaker
came for week, and cut over Mrs.
Bates wedding-dress, a dark blue
repped silk, for the girls best gown;
there was gray merino bought for
school wear, and last years brown one
sponged and altered for a change; a
! little round felt hat with band of
velvet, for every day, and dark blue
velvet turban for Sundays, came from
the milliner's shop in Tauton, and
with beaver cloth black sacque and
blanket shawl, Molly's list of outside
wear was completed. She was to get
some gloves in New York and pair of
oyershoes; all the rest of her garments
she and her mother had made, and
they were warm and abundant. Molly
thought herself a very lucky girl.
However, when she arrived at her
aunt's house, though Aida and Amy
were kind in their welcome, and Aunt
Frances put both arms about her,
kissed her warmly and said: ''My
dear child; you've got your mothers
eyesm Yet Molly felt like a stranger of
different race; her shoes seemed to
make a noise like horseshoes as she
followed Amy's light steps up the pol
ished staircase to her room, and her
dress, fashioned by old Miss Pettibone,
seemed uncouth enough in comparison
with Alida's dainty gown of soft wool
and delicate silk, fitting her slender
figure with perfect grace, and trailing
its long draperies over the rich carpet
of the upper hall. Frank was not there,
or she might have been happier and
more at home. When Amy left her to
put her hat and sacque in the closet,
unpack her trunk, and brush her hair
for the late dinner which was Just
ready, Molly's heart sank like lead; oh,
if she were only home again! but she
rcsolutely put the thought away; she
was there at her own wish; she was
going to school without expense to her
father; she would not give way to re-
greet or fear; the words Hiram said to
her as he shook hands at the gate when
she came away flashed across her.
keep your courage up, Molly; don't
let outsides daunt we. Your folks here
to home is with more to We than the
hull city. Think O. that"
Molly did think of it, set her red lips
firmly, and went down to dinner in her
old brown dress, her heavy shoes, her
simply-knotted hair, as self-possessed
girl as Amy herself. Uncle Parsons
was kind-hearted man, very busy
abroad, very pleasant and cordial at
home; but his eyes were keen, He had
not been in business thirty years with
out learning to know people by their
faces; yet he was little puzzled to-
day. Frank had talked a great deal
about his summer in Newfeld, and had
given his father an idea that Molly was
pretty, weak-headed, perhaps silly,
little country girl. He could not make
this face and that character agree.
Next day Aunt Parsons took Molly to
school. She meant to wait till she had
somewhat changed the girls dress, but
Mr.. Parsons objected.
''See what sort of stuff she's made of,
Frances; let her find her own level. If
she turns out to be doll, dress her; if
she's a good-for-nothing girl, why you
can change her attire if you want to;
but she will be worth it,
However, Molly stood the test. The
schoolgirls laughed at her scant, short
dress, and she laughed, too.
"You can't expect a country maid to
be in the last fashion, girls" she said.
"rve come to learn, and shall learn
style, perhaps, as well as French and
physiology"
She made absurd apologies for the
noise of her shoes.
"You know / came from the Old
Granite State; you must expect me to
be heavy, and have a solid understand
ing"
The girls were conquered by her
cheerful front and readiness to laugh
with them. Molly remembered Hiram's
old saw:
I" If you softly touch nettle,
1t will sting you for your pains;
Grasp it like man of mettle
Not single sting remains?"
If the girl was sometimes home
sick nobody heard of it; she wrote and
received frequent letters; her own al
ways full of every pleasant thing she
could gather to tell to mother. Aida
and Amy were all the time on the
wing; balls, parties, dinners, visits,
filled their time, so that Molly saw very
little of them. When winter really set
in Mrs. Parsons bought Molly hand
some fur-trimmed cloak, and a muff
to match, and one day Amy took her
out shopping; they went into MILL
ner's where Amy wanted to order a
little bonnet for the next evening,
as she was to ioin a party for the